Supporting devices for elevating conveyors



Nov. 19, 1957 c, L s o 7 2,813,618

SUPPORTING DEVICES FOR ELEVATING CONVEYORS Filed April 2, 1956 2Sheets-Sheet 1 .52? 5? LEE.

' INVENTOR.

.6714; C Z/aro/v Nov. 19, 1957 E. c. LISTON 2,813,618

SUPPORTING DEVICES FOR ELEVATING CONVEYORS Filed April 2, 1956 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

United States Patent.

Earl C. Liston, Englewood, Colo., assignor to Howry- Berg Steel & IronWorks, Inc., Englewood, Colo.

Application April 2, 1956, Serial No. 575,648

Claims. (Cl. 198-121) This invention relates to an adjustable supportingdevice for supporting elevating conveyors of the type known as grainelevators such as used for elevating grain into trucks or storage bins.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a portable elevatorsupporting device which can be quickly and easily adjusted to supportthe discharge extremity of the elevator at any desired delivery height,and to provide a wheeled support which can be used for lowering theelevator to a substantially horizontally traveling position and whichwill firmly and rigidly support the elevator while the latter is beingtransported from place to place.

Another object is to so construct the improved support that it may beoperated by one man, regardless of the length or weight of the elevatingconveyor, and to provide a device of this character which can be quicklyand easily applied to any of the conventional types of elevatingconveyors.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of theinvention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efiiciency.These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is hadto the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numeralsrefer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout thedescription.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the improved elevating conveyor supportingdevice applied to a conventional elevator and illustrating in full line,the fully elevated position of the device and in broken line a partiallyelevated position thereof;

Fig. 2 is a similar view, illustrating the improved supporting device inthe fully folded or lowered position ready for storage ortransportation;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the improved supporting device looking in thedirection of the arrow 3 in Fig. l; and

Fig. 4 is a top view of the device removed from the elevator and in thefolded position of Fig. 2.

In the drawing 'a conventional conveyor belt type of grain elevator hasbeen illustrated. It it to be understood that the elevator, per se,forms no part of the present invention and the elevator illustratedcould be replaced by any of the conventional types of elevatingconveyors. The elevator illustrated is of a standard type having twoupper side boards enclosing the ascending side of a conveyor belt 29,and two lower side boards 11 enclosing the descending side of the belt.The side boards 10 and 11 at each side of the conveyor are maintained inrigid, parallel, spaced relation by means of attachment straps 12riveted or otherwise secured to the side boards as shown at 13.

The improved elevator supporting device comprises a tubular axle member14, the extremities of which are provided with the usual wheel spindleswhich rotatably 2,813,618 Patented Nov. 19, 1957 2 support a pair ofpneumatically tired, ground-engaging wheels 15. The axle member 14 issecured to the elevator by means of a tubular, triangular, A-frame 17,the sides of which are held in rigid spaced relation by means of crosstubes 30. The rear extremities of the A- frame are provided with axlesleeves 18 fitted about the projecting extremities of the axle member14.

The forward extremities of the A-frame terminate in chat attachment pads19, each of which is pivotally secured by means of a suitable pivot bolt20 to a side plate 21. The side plates 21 are secured to the sides ofthe two lower side boards 11 of the elevating conveyor by means ofsuitable attachment bolts 22.

An inverted, U-shaped, tubular archmember 16 is welded or otherwisesecured at its extremities to the axle member 14 and ascends in an archthereover. The arch member 16 is rigidly braced from the A-frame 17 bymeans of two tubular side brace members 23, the extremities of each ofwhich are flattened to provide at tachment pads 24. The forward pads 24are secured to ears 25, mounted on the A-frame 17, by means of suitableattachment bolts 26. The rear pads 24 are similarly secured to bracketcars 27 formed on and projecting from the arch member 16 by means ofsuitable attachment bolts 28. A saddle bar 43 is welded to and extendsbetween its brace members '23. The A-frame structure combined with thebraces 23 and the arch member 16 forms a complete unitary wheeledsupporting frame or truck for the support of the remainder of thedevice.

A lower pair of channel-shaped toggle links 31 are pivotally mounted attheir lower extremities: on the midportion of the arch member 16 in anydesired manner, with their flanges facing outwardly. The upper extremities of the lower toggle links 31 are maintained in spaced relation bymeans of a hinge shaft 32 extending therebetween. An upper pair oftriangular-shaped toggle links 33 are pivotally mounted at their lowerextremities on the hinge shaft 32. The upper toggle links also have achannel-shaped cross-section, with their flanges facing inwardly towardeach other, and are maintained in fixed, parallel, spaced-apart positionby means of a gusset plate 34 welded or otherwise secured theretobetween the upper extremities thereof.

A hinge plate 35 is secured to and extends upwardly from the upperextremity of each of the upper pair of toggle links 33. A hinge bolt 36extends through the two hinge plates 35 and hingedly secures the upperpair of toggle links 33 to a second pair of side plates 37 which areattached to the lower sideboards 11 of the elevator by means of suitableattachment devices 38.

A plunger shaft 39 is mounted in and extends be tween the two uppertoggle links 33 adjacent to and in eccentric relation with the axis ofthe hinge shaft 32. The plunger shaft 39 is offset from alignmentbetween the hinge shaft 32 and the hinge bolt 36. A hydraulic plunger 40terminates in a bearing sleeve surrounding the plunger shaft 39. Theplunger 40 extends from a conventional hydraulic cylinder 41 which istiltably mounted on a cylinder shaft 42 extending between the lowertoggle links 31 adjacent the arch member 16.

Hydraulic fluid under pressure can be fed to the cylinder 41 from anyconvenient fluid pressure source in any desired manner. For convenience,a hand-operated hydraulic pump 44 is mounted on a supporting plate 45welded or otherwise secured to the rear axle member 14 and the archmember 16. The pump is of the usual hand-operated hydraulic jack typeprovided with conventional check and relief valves as is usual withhydraulic jacks. The tubular axle member 14 and the tubular arch member16 are employed as a reservoir for the hydraulic fluid. The fluid issupplied to and relieved 3 from the through a reservoir conduit 47connected to the axle member 14 and is supplied to and returned from thepump 44 means of a suitable flexible hose 46.

Let -us assume that the improved elevating conveyor supporting structureis in the full line position of Fig. 1. If the;'relief valve of the pumpis opened, the weight of the structure will force fluid from thecylinder 41 so as to allow the two sets of toggle links 31 and 33 tofold toward each other, so as to decrease the angle of the elevator, asshown in broken line in Pig. 1. The release of the hydraulic fluid canbe continued until the two sets of toggle links 31 and 33 are completelyfolded and rested upon the saddle bar 43 as shown in Fig. 2. The forwardextremity of the elevator can now be attached to any suitable towingvehicle for transportation. The elevator can be quickly and easilyraised to any desired angle by operation of the pump 44. I

While a specific form of the improvement has been described andillustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may bevaried, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired securedby Letters Patent is:

1. Means for supporting an inclined elevating conveyor comprising: anaxle; wheels mounted on the extremities of said axle; an A-frame mountedon said axle and extending forwardly and upwardly to a pivotal con-'nection with said conveyor; an arch member mounted on said axle andextending upwardly and longitudinally over said axle; brace membersextending from said arch member to said A frame to form a rigidsupporting frame structure supported by said wheels at its rearextremity, and by said conveyor at its forward extremity; toggle linksmounted between the rear extremity of said frame and said conveyor; andmeans for varying the included angle of said toggle links so as to varythe incline of said conveyor.

2. Means for supporting an inclined elevating conveyor as described inclaim 1 in which the means for varying comprises a hydraulicallyexpansible mechanism mounted between said toggle links.

3. A portable, elevating conveyor support, comprising an axle providedwith ground wheels at the extremities thereof; a frame comprisingforwardly converging tubular members extending from said axle, theextremities of said converging members adapted to pivotally support anelevating conveyor, an upwardly bowed tubular arch mounted on said axle,a pair of spaced brace members extending from the top of said archmember connected respectively to the forward portions of said converingmembers, a toggle member pivoted at one extremity to said arch memberbetween said brace members and adapted to be pivotally connected at theother extremity thereof to the elevating conveyor; and hydraulicextensible mechanism pivoted at one end to said arch between said bracemembers and at the other end to said toggle member beyond the elbowthereof.

4. A portable elevating conveyor support as defined in claim 3, in whicha manually operated pump is mounted on said axle, and connectionsbetween said pump and said hydraulic mechanism for conducting pressurefluid thereto.

5. A portable elevating conveyor as defined in claim 4, wherein saidaxle is hollow, and conduit means con meeting said axle and said pumpfor supplying said pump with hydraulic fluid, said hollow axle servingas a reservoir for said fluid.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,373,848 Owens Apr. 17, 1945 2,561,997 Smith July 24, 1951 2,601,916Bobrowski July 1, 1952 2,634,870 Barnum Apr. 14, 1953

